Again we turn our attention to one of the hottest growing insurance markets in the world for a few lessons. The insurance market in China has until recently been concentrated in metropolitan areas. Given China’s rising middle class insurance sales has spread to rural areas. It is reported that China has 83,000 representatives in the Sichuan provence alone (Tian, 2011). Tian (2011) performed a study that suggested rural insurance salespeople thrive on training.
Those with more training have significantly higher sales in terms of First Year Premium.
Agents reported a preference to group meetings rather than self-paced training. As a bit of commentary I will add that it is interesting to see where the Chinese insurance market is in relation to training. It appears that the US companies are continuing the ever-present push to reduce training amount and training dollars. It may be that the Chinese insurance market is in such a period of growth that it is easier to spend money on training. As this new market matures over the next 20-30 years it will be of interest to see if spending on training tapers off as growth slows.
Reference
Tian, W. (2011). Study on influencing factors of rural insurance salesman’s sale performance. International Journal of Business and Management. doi:10.5539/ijbm.v6n5pl80